Forgivenesses of sins Essay Example for Free

Forgivenesses of sins Essay Pardoners were supposed to issue papal indulgences (forgivenesses of sins) in exchange for alms money, which was to be given to the sick, poor, or another worthy cause. But many pardoners were out-and-out frauds, selling worthless pieces of paper, and even legitimate ones often kept more than their share of the proceeds. This Pardoner is from Rouncivalle, a London hospital well known for the number of illegal pardons connected with it. Most pardoners, like this one, claimed to have come straight from the court of Rome, with a bagful of pardons al hoot off the presses, though of course our Pardoner hasnt set foot outside England. NOTE: Fake pardoners claimed they could do almost anything for the right sum of money, even remove an excommunication. Despite widespread abuses, though, there still were plenty of people gullible enough to believe in a pardoners powers. Theres something suspect in the fact that the Pardoner sings Come hither, love, to me, to the Summoner, who accompanies him in a strong bass voice. Some see more than a hint of sexual perversion in this young man who has thin locks of yellow hair that he wears without a hood because he thinks its the latest style. His small voice and the fact that he has no beard, ne never sholde [would] have, leads Chaucer to suspect he were a gelding or a marea eunuch or effeminate man. NOTE: Scientific opinion of the day believed that thin hair represented poor blood, effeminacy, and deception, while glaring eyes like the Pardoners indicated folly, gluttony, and drunkenness. Chaucers audience would catch the references just as we would instantly see the significance of a villain in a black cape and with a black moustache. As if the description werent bad enough, the Pardoner tricks people into buying phony relics of saints, such as a pillowcase that he says was Our Ladys veil, or a piece of sail allegedly belonging to St. Peter. No wonder he makes more money in a day than the poor Parson does in two months. Ironically, Chaucer calls him a noble eccesiaste, since he can sing a church lesson beautifullyfor money, of course. His tale is right in character: he tells what the pilgrims say they want to hear. He says he bases his sermons on money being the root of all evil (he ought to know). But he admits hes not a moral man, although he can tell a moral tale. In his tale about three rowdies, he ironically delivers a sermon against gluttony and other sins. Afterwards, the Host lights into the Pardoners hypocrisy with such force that the Pardoner is speechless with anger. Chaucer is probably the earliest English poet youre likely to read. A first glance at the original Middle English of the Canterbury Tales, with all those strange-looking words, might be enough to tempt you to slam the book shut, either in disgust or in terror at having to learn it all. But take a closer look and examine some of the words. Youll see that many arent any harder to understand than when some people, trying to be olde-fashioned, write shoppe instead of shop. (Chaucers English is in fact where this idea originated. ) Try to get a dual-language edition of the Canterbury Tales, in which the Middle English original is printed on one side of the page and modern English on the other. When youve gotten some practice reading the original words and checking against the modern English, youll find that the rhythm of Chaucers poetry gets easier to understand. Why is it called Middle English? Simply because its at the midpoint between the ancient language spoken by the Anglo-Saxons of England and the English we speak today. In fact, you might feel grateful that youre reading Chaucer instead of the poetry of some of his fellow fourteenth-century poets, because Chaucers dialectthe Middle English spoken in Londonis the language that evolved into our English, while the dialects the other poets used died out. Imagine trying to read something written in a hillbilly drawl or in a Scottish brogue; standard English, even if its not what we speak all the time, is easier to read. Even if Chaucer had never written a word, it makes sense that the speech of London, the hub of English society, should develop into the standard English that eventually came over on the Mayflower. But Chaucer gave a great boost to the prestige of English, as Shakespeare did later on. Its partly because of Chaucers terrific (though unintentional) public relations job that the poet John Dryden, three hundred years later, called him the father of English literature. There is a robust flavor to Chaucers language that we cant get in a translation, no matter how good it is. You wont be able to get the nuances of all the old words. But after a while youll almost be able to hear the pilgrims chatting away. The opening of the General Prologue bursts with spring, with new life, and shows that Chaucer is both similar to and different from his poetic predecessors. He uses many images of spring that would be familiar to a medievel audience: the April showers (familiar to us too) piercing Marchs dryness, the licour in each plants vein, the breezes inspiring the crops. Its short, but enough of a description to give us a sense of waking up to new and exciting events. Even the birds sleep with open eyes because of the rising sap. Then, instead of moving from the conventional spring setting to a description of courtly romantic or heroic deeds, as his audience might expect, he draws us into a very down-to-earth world. Spring isnt romance; its the time of year when people long to go on pilgrimages. We can all identify with the feeling of spring fever, when we want to travel and shake off the winter doldrums. Whats more, in case we or Chaucers listeners are expecting a conventional medieval description of moral allegorical typesGreed, Love, Fortune, etc. or battles, were in for a shock. Other poets presented characters for moral purposes or to embody ideals such as courtly love. But Chaucer doesnt deal in types, whether religious or courtly, but in portraits of real people. He even ignores the unwritten rule of the time that, if youre describing someone, you start at the top, very orderly, and work down. Chaucer will start with someones beard, then hat, boots, tone of voice, and finally his political opinions! (Thats just a partial description of the Merchant. ) Hes not reporting for a moral purpose, but out of love of life and the people around him. Imagine that youre minding your own business in a wayside tavern and in burst 29 people representing every facet of society. For Chaucer, that meant the nobility, embodied in the Knight and Squire; the church, in the form of the Prioress, Monk, and others; agriculture (the Plowman); and the emerging middle class (the Merchant, Franklin and tradesmen). Rather than shy away from this motley crew, Chaucer the narrator (who is not the same, remember, as Chaucer the poet) befriends and describes them, inserting his own opinions freely.

The Life & Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche :: Biographies Biographical Essays

The Life & Philosophy of Friedrich Nietzsche Philosophy Class Essay Born: 1844. Rocken, Germany Died: 1900. Weimar, Germany Major Works: The Gay Science (1882), Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-1885), Beyond Good & Evil (1886), On the Genealogy of Morals (1887), MAJOR IDEAS Self deception is a particularly destructive characteristic of West Culture. Life is The Will To Power; our natural desire is to dominate and reshape the world to fit our own preferences and assert our personal strength to the fullest degree possible. Struggle, through which individuals achieve a degree of power commensurate with their abilities, is the basic fact of human existence. Ideals of human equality perpetuate mediocrity -- a truth that has been distorted and concealed by modern value systems. Christian morality, which identifies goodness with meekness and servility is the prime culprit in creating a cultural climate that thwarts the drive for excellence and self realization God is dead; a new era of human creativity and achievement is at hand. -- Great Thinkers In The Western World. By: Ian P. McGreal, 1992 PREFACE Much information is available on Mr. Friedrich Nietzsche, including many books that he wrote himself, during his philosophical career. I took this as a good sign I would find a fountain of enlightened material produced by the man. I've had to go through a bit of my own philosophical meditations to put my own value judgements aside, and truly look for the contributions Nietzsche gave to philosophy. Much of my understanding came only after I had a grasp of Neitzsche's history; therefore, I encourage you to read-up on his history before diving into his philosophy (see Appendix I). The modern Westerner might disagree with every aspect of his philosophy, but there are many things one must unfortunately admit are true (only if you put your morality aside). So, from here, I will present his contributions to philosophy, and do my best to delete my own opinions, other than to say that he was not the chosen topic of this paper out of any admiration. THE PHILOSOPHY OF FRIEDRICH NIETZSCHE Sometimes philosophy is called "timeless," implying that it's lessons are of value to any generation. This may be hard to see in Nietzsche's work; but, we are assured that it was appropriate thought for his time. However, even Nietzsche's critics admit that his words hold an undeniable truth, as hard as it is to accept. Perhaps this is why his work is timeless, and has survived 150 years in print.

Promote Equality and Inclusion in Health, Social Care or Children’s and Young People’s Essay

Outcome 1 1. What is meant by: Diversity –our society is made up of people with a wide range of characteristics and backgrounds. This diversity contributes strength to a community but sadly it is often perceived as a problem. Equality – seeing each child as an individual will enable you to promote their right to have access to equality of opportunity and to be treated with equal concern so they are able to progress along the pathway development. Inclusion- to promote the positive aspects of diversity and to offer children equal chances in life, all settings for children would work towards inclusive. 2. What are the potential effects of discrimination? There are lots of different effects of discrimination for example children do not progress and experience success in their lives and the negative effects this has on their self-esteem may dampen their motivation levels. 3. How can inclusive practice promote equality and support diversity? Children’s right to have access to equality of opportunity. Promoting the positive aspects of diversity. Settings should always aim for inclusion, which promotes both equality and diversity. Outcome 2 1. How do legislation and codes of practice relating to equality, diversity and discrimination apply to own work role? For our setting to work in an inclusive way they would have to work with the legal framework to work with families in a respectful way. Laws alone cannot change prejudiced attitudes and assumptions or influence the way people think. Outcome 3 3. How could you challenge discrimination in a way that promotes change? Both children and adults can be the victim of prejudice or behaviour in discriminatory ways. Every setting should have strategies for dealing with any issue that is challenged. You should help both sides those who are subject to the discrimination and those who are the discriminator, this is a delicate matter and should be dealt with carefully.

The Unusual History of Microsoft Windows

On November 10, 1983, at the Plaza Hotel in New York City, Microsoft Corporation formally announced Microsoft Windows, a next-generation operating system that would provide a graphical user interface (GUI) and a multitasking environment for IBM computers. Introducing Interface Manager Microsoft promised that the new product would be on the shelf by April 1984. Windows might have been released under the original name of Interface Manager if marketing whiz, Rowland Hanson had not convinced Microsofts founder Bill Gates that Windows was the far better name. Did Windows Get Top View? That same November in 1983, Bill Gates showed a beta version of Windows to IBMs head honchos. Their response was lackluster probably because they were working on their own operating system called Top View. IBM did not give Microsoft the same encouragement for Windows that they gave the other operating system that Microsoft brokered to IBM. In 1981, MS-DOS became the highly successful operating system that came bundled with an IBM computer. Top View was released in February of 1985 as a DOS-based multitasking program manager without any GUI features. IBM promised that future versions of Top View would have a GUI. That promise was never kept, and the program was discontinued barely two years later. A Byte Out of Apple No doubt, Bill Gates realized how profitable a successful GUI for IBM computers would be. He had seen Apples Lisa computer and later the more successful Macintosh or Mac computer. Both Apple computers came with a stunning graphical user interface. Wimps Side Note: Early MS-DOS diehards liked to refer to MacOS (Macintosh operating system)as WIMP, an acronym for the Windows, Icons, Mice and Pointers interface. Competition As a new product, Microsoft Windows faced potential competition from IBMs own Top View, and others. VisiCorps short-lived VisiOn, released in October 1983, was the official first PC-based GUI. The second was GEM (Graphics Environment Manager), released by Digital Research in early 1985. Both GEM and VisiOn lacked support from the all-important third-party developers. Since, if nobody wanted to write software programs for an operating system, there would be no programs to use, and nobody would want to buy it. Microsoft finally shipped Windows 1.0 on November 20, 1985, almost two years past the initially promised release date.    Microsoft become the top software vendor in 1988 and never looked back - Microsoft Corporation    Apple Bytes Back Microsoft Windows version 1.0 was considered buggy, crude, and slow. This rough start was made worse by a threatened lawsuit from  Apple Computers. In September 1985, Apple lawyers warned  Bill Gates  that Windows 1.0 infringed on Apple  copyrights  and  patents, and that his corporation stoled Apples trade secrets. Microsoft Windows had similar drop-down menus, tiled windows and mouse support. Deal of the Century Bill Gates and his head counsel Bill Neukom, decided to make an offer to license features of Apples operating system. Apple agreed and a contract was drawn up. Heres the clincher: Microsoft wrote the  licensing  agreement to include use of Apple features in Microsoft Windows version 1.0 and all future Microsoft software programs. As it turned out, this move by  Bill Gates  was as brilliant as his decision to buy QDOS from Seattle Computer Products and his convincing IBM to let Microsoft keep the licensing rights to MS-DOS. (You can read all about those smooth moves in our feature on  MS-DOS.) Windows 1.0 floundered on the market until January 1987, when a Windows-compatible program called Aldus PageMaker 1.0 was released. PageMaker was the first WYSIWYG desktop-publishing program for the PC. Later that year, Microsoft released a Windows-compatible spreadsheet called Excel. Other popular and useful software like Microsoft Word and Corel Draw helped promote Windows, however, Microsoft realized that Windows needed further development. Microsoft Windows Version 2.0 On December 9, 1987, Microsoft released a much-improved Windows version 2.0 that made Windows based computers look more like a  Mac. Windows 2.0 had icons to represent programs and files, improved support for expanded-memory hardware and windows that could overlap. Apple Computer saw a resemblance and filed a 1988 lawsuit against Microsoft, alleging that they had broken the 1985 licensing agreement. Copy This Will You In their defense, Microsoft claimed that the licensing agreement actually gave them the rights to use Apple features. After a four-year court case, Microsoft won. Apple claimed that Microsoft had infringed on 170 of their copyrights. The courts said that the licensing agreement gave Microsoft the rights to use all but nine of the copyrights, and Microsoft later convinced the courts that the remaining copyrights should not be covered by copyright law. Bill Gates claimed that Apple had taken ideas from the graphical user interface developed by Xerox for Xeroxs Alto and Star computers. On June 1, 1993, Judge Vaughn R. Walker of the U.S. District Court of Northern California ruled in Microsofts favor in the Apple vs. Microsoft Hewlett-Packard copyright suit. The judge granted Microsofts and Hewlett-Packards motions to dismiss the last remaining copyright infringement claims against Microsoft Windows versions 2.03 and 3.0, as well as HP NewWave. What would have happened if Microsoft had lost the lawsuit? Microsoft Windows might never have become the dominant operating system that it is today. On May 22, 1990, the critically accepted Windows 3.0 was released. Windows 3.0 had an improved program manager and icon system, a new file manager, support for sixteen colors, and improved speed and reliability. Most important, Windows 3.0 gained widespread third-party support. Programmers started writing Windows-compatible software, giving end users a reason to buy Windows 3.0. Three million copies were sold the first year, and Windows finally came of age. On April 6, 1992, Windows 3.1 was released. Three million copies were sold in the first two months. TrueType scalable font support was added, along with multimedia capability, object linking and embedding (OLE), application reboot capability, and more. Windows 3.x became the number one operating system installed in PCs until 1997, when Windows 95 took over. Windows 95 On August 24, 1995, Windows 95 was released in a buying fever so great that even consumers without home computers bought copies of the program. Code-named Chicago, Windows 95 was considered very user-friendly. It included an integrated TCP/IP stack, dial-up networking, and long filename support. It was also the first version of Windows that did not require  MS-DOS  to be installed beforehand. Windows 98 On June 25, 1998, Microsoft released Windows 98. It was the last version of Windows based on the MS-DOS kernel. Windows 98 has Microsofts Internet browser Internet Explorer 4 built in and supported new input devices like USB. Windows 2000 Windows 2000 (released in 2000) was based on Microsofts NT technology. Microsoft now offered automatic software updates over the Internet for Windows starting with Windows 2000. Windows XP According to Microsoft, the XP in Windows XP stands for experience, symbolizing the innovative experiences that Windows can offer to personal computer users. Windows XP was released in October 2001 and offered better multi-media support and increased performance. Windows Vista Codenamed Longhorn in its development phase, Windows Vista is the latest edition of Windows.